“He frequently contacted the Embassy in the 1988-89 period to complain of disappearances and extra-judicial killings under the then-United National Party (UNP) government, and with fellow southerner and Minister of Ports in the Kumaratunga administration Mangala Samaraweera” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

“A memcon in Embassy files quotes Rajapakse as freely admitting to ballot stuffing during that race–but only to balance out just-as-vigorous ballot stuffing by his local UNP rival” the Embassy further informed.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” details biographic details on Sri Lanka’s fifth President  Percy Mahendra Rajapakse. The cable was written on November 21, 2005 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead.

The Ambassador wrote “Rajapakse lost his seat, along with many of his SLFP colleagues, in his party’s landslide defeat in the general elections of 1977. He then turned to the practice of law in Colombo and the south, where his defense of suspected JVP sympathizers first earned him a reputation as a human rights activitst. He frequently contacted the Embassy in the 1988-89 period to complain of disappearances and extra-judicial killings under the then-United National Party (UNP) government, and with fellow southerner and Minister of Ports in the Kumaratunga administration Mangala Samaraweera, Rajapakse formed a human rights organization in 1988, called the Mothers’ Front, to advocate on behalf of family members of “disappeared” JVP suspects.

“After he returned to Parliament in 1989 (a memcon in Embassy files quotes Rajapakse as freely admitting to ballot stuffing during that race–but only to balance out just-as-vigorous ballot stuffing by his local UNP rival), Rajapakse served as Secretary to the Committee of Parliamentarians for Fundamental and Human Rights and as Director to the Center for Human Rights and Legal Aid. His standing as one of the few such lawyers in the south who continued to operate throughout the height of the violent JVP insurgency–despite threats of reprisal from both right- and left-wing extremists–made him a valuable source for our human rights reporting.” ambassador Lunstead further wrote.

By Colombo Telegraph –

Related news to the same cable;

WikiLeaks: Mahinda Rajapakse did not complete his Advanced Level

Below we give the relevant part of the confidential cable;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 001981 

SIPDIS 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2015
TAGS: PINR PGOV CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON PRESIDENT
MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE 

REF: A. COLOMBO 1853 

     ¶B. COLOMBO 1975 

Classified By: AMB. JEFFREY J. LUNSTEAD.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D).
------------------------
DEFENDER OF JVP MISSING
------------------------ 

¶4.  (C)  Rajapakse lost his seat, along with many of his SLFP
colleagues, in his party's landslide defeat in the general
elections of 1977.  He then turned to the practice of law in
Colombo and the south, where his defense of suspected JVP
sympathizers first earned him a reputation as a human rights
activitst.  He frequently contacted the Embassy in the
1988-89 period to complain of disappearances and
extra-judicial killings under the then-United National Party
(UNP) government, and with fellow southerner and Minister of
Ports in the Kumaratunga administration Mangala Samaraweera,
Rajapakse formed a human rights organization in 1988, called
the Mothers' Front, to advocate on behalf of family members
of "disappeared" JVP suspects.  After he returned to
Parliament in 1989 (a memcon in Embassy files quotes
Rajapakse as freely admitting to ballot stuffing during that
race--but only to balance out just-as-vigorous ballot
stuffing by his local UNP rival), Rajapakse served as
Secretary to the Committee of Parliamentarians for 

SIPDIS
Fundamental and Human Rights and as Director to the Center
for Human Rights and Legal Aid. His standing as one of the
few such lawyers in the south who continued to operate
throughout the height of the violent JVP insurgency--despite
threats of reprisal from both right- and left-wing
extremists--made him a valuable source for our human rights
reporting.

 LUNSTEAD